Part 3
Ishra settled in Raman's car and he drive towards his house ,after sometimes ishita asked " my job is to look after your mother ".
R- yeah ,mostly .
I- can I ask what has happened to her .?
R- ofcourse ,actually few days back my mother had a heart attack . My father is abroad for some days ,my sister is married ,my brother is studying in Mumbai and I have to look after my business over here ,so non of us had much time to look after ma and she is like a child, whenever we loose our eyes on her she started doing works and stress herself ,so basically I need a caretaker for not only her but for all her work. I m clearing myself before you start work, you will live in my house and have to do some other works too .
I- as in .
R- you have to assist ma if she is cooking , have to supervise other helps and also had to wait for us if I or papa are late ,as ma will not sleep till we our dinner and obviously you have to be with ma all the time. Got it .
I- (smiling )- got it .
She looked at him for sometimes then asked reluctantly " sir what will be my salary ".
R- starting will be forty thousand and it will be raised if you do your job nicely. Hope that's enough .
I- yeah that's enough but ..
R- what but ..
I- sir ,I know it's too early for this, but I need some money ,can you give me some advance salary .
R- advance ? How much ?
I- 25000 .
R- may I ask ,why do you need money that to such urgently.
I- sir actually ,I m doing my CA and is in final year of my course ,I had already paid my fee for the year but had to join the coaching classes too . Atfirst it was difficult to take admission as they were either not taking tge final year student or were charging whole course fees . Finally I got one but at usual the fees was much ,they are charging around thirty five thousand for six months ,which is very much but I m left with no option ,I had to give this . I had only 10000 left with me and need more 25000 . Will you please help me .?
She spoke looking to him with pleading eyes , Raman too looked at her for sometimes then withdrew his eyes . He was mad at her with the thought that how she eloped without meeting him .It was like a insult for him and his family, but fortunately they had not informed about his marriage to their friends and relative . Though his parent wanted to announce it to everybody that they are going to bring their daughter in law but didn't as Raman denied to be a part of any celebration without knowing the girl and fortunately it turned fruitful and bhallas didn't had to face any insult or mocking of anyone . Raman was angry at ishita but now after listening to her side ,he totally agree with her, only disappointment was that if ishita would had shared it with him,may be their relationship status and situation would had been different. He was lost in his thoughts while ishita was waiting for his answer ,after much time when she didn't received any answer she made a sad face and started looking out ,thinking it will not help .
Soon they reached his house ,Raman stopped the car and both got down of the car . He entered the house and ishita followed him , they saw toshiji was sitting in the hall and was talking to someone over phone. She saw ishra and hung the call ,she then looked at Raman then ishra and asked " arey puttar tu is time aur ye kudi kaun hai ". (Who is this girl).
R- yeah ma ,I just came to drop her ,I told you na that I m appointing a girl to keep an eye on you, here she is . She will live here and will take care of you as well as help you .
T- ok ,so you were serious and finally got someone for me .
R- yeah .
T- so puttar what's your name .
I- aunty ji I m ishi...
R-(interrupting her in mid)- her name is ishu ma.
T- ishu ...the name is very familiar . What's your full name puttar .
R- her name is ishu bhalla .
T- ishu bhalla ?
Ishita looked at him surprisingly while Raman nodded and said " yeah ma she is ishu bhalla ".
T- (looking to ishita )- tu punjabi hai puttar .
R- ma I had seen her resume , you can ask this all afterwards ,atfirst let me give her a quick visit to our house and then show her room .
T- ok .
Raman showed ishita his house ,then the room where she is suppose live then finally his room .ishita was checking his room when Raman gave the money to her . She looked at him questioning eyes when he said ", it's your advance salary ,you wanted it for your admission na". Ishita got happy and spoke" you remember it ,i thought you had ignored ".
R- no , I won't ignore if it's about your future .
I- thankyou somuch for your help .sir one more I want .
R- what ?
I- I had my classes at 4.30 to 5.30 ,can I attend it as I won't be with aunty ji at that time .
R- ok ,I will inform ma .
Days started passing ,atfirst ishita face little difficulty in doing household works and cooking but slowly she learnt everything and was now doing every work efficiently. She was talking care of toshiji ,doing all the needed work and was studying at the same time, Raman too was helping her whenever it was needed but their relationship was purely like a worker and master.
Today toshiji was unwell so ishita was doing all the work as the other help has also taken leave and suddenly toshiji too got sick . Ishita made tea and was thinking something to make for breakfast when she heard Raman from outside He was asking for his morning tea , ishita poured his tea and went out . She passed his tea to Raman ,he saw her and asked " where is ma? ".
I- auntyji is unwell .
R- arey! what happened to her .?
I- she was not feeling good and also feeling dizziness, so I told her to rest . I m preparing breakfast for the day ,what you will have in breakfast .
Raman thought for sometimes and said " keep it simple, just make aaloo paratha and tomato chutney.
I- ok .
Saying so she went inside and start preparing the dish ,she peeled the potato and kept it for boiling then started making dough . For the first time she is making aaloo paratha , she had seen toshiji making it many times, even had assisted her but never made it herself . She had seen toshiji making a loose dough out of flour so that it can be stuffed nicely, so she too tried to knead the flour ,but mistakenly she has put much water in the flour than needed and now the flour was most like a paste than dough and to her bad luck today the help was also not there . She was looking at the paste making a puppy face ,thinking how to correct it when Raman came inside kitchen for doing something and got surprised noticing ishita . Her both hands were full of wheat flour ,some of flour was even on her cheeks and on her strands also ,she was looking cute in her look . Raman atfirst saw her for sometimes then saw the flour then asked " what are you suppose to make ".
I- main aata gooth rahi thi (I was kneading flour) but I poured more water than needed .
She looked at him pleading ,flickering her eyes like a cute doll ,Raman at first glared her ,she got scared and it seems that she will start crying at any moment . Raman tried to hold his laugh for much time then finally started laughing aloud . She looked at him for sometimes then spoke getting bit angry " I m in problem and instead of helping me you are laughing at me . "
R- then what should I do ,it seems that you have more flour than vessel in which you are kneading the dough .
Ishita made a puppy face and spoke " you are making fun of me ".
Raman smiled and said " kind of ".
I- can you help me please .
She spoke with utmost sincerity, he smiled on her pleading and spoke " ok I will help you ,add some more flour in it , that will fix it ".
She nodded and added some flour , it was still not ok ,she added some more . Ishita was doing her work while the strand of hair was disturbing her Raman noticed this and tucked the strand of hair behind her ear , she closed her eyes getting goosebumps of his touches while Raman was mesmerized noticing her flawless beauty for the very first time He tried to wipe the flour which was on her face , making her nervous . She opened her eyes and noticed he was closer than ever ,their eyes got locked but before they can proceed the pressure cooker whistle interrupted their moment . Raman immediately went away from their while ishita was confused she was feeling nervous as well as excited.She has never thought that she will ever feel like this with mere touch of someone .
Ishita shrugged her head and spoke to herself
" ishita iyer hold your horses ,you are here for some purpose ,you want to earn money so that you can pursue your further studies and can fulfil your dreams for which you had left your family. So be in your limits and do your work without any distraction. "
Ishita reminded herself and started doing her work with dedication again ,shrugging all the thoughts of Raman which has just grown with his mere touch . On the other hand Raman too was confused with his behaviour, though he was helping ishita beside knowing that she is his wife who eloped before meeting him but never had any feelings for her . He was helping her just because she was right at her place and was firm to achieve her goal but today something has happened between them . Not only him but seems ishita too was affected with his proximity ,he thought something and decided to play along ,he wanted to test ishita that if she fall for him or still stuck to her career .
That's all for now ,enjoy reading and do comment.
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